Division Chief, Infectious Diseases

We are recruiting for a motivated Division Chief, Infectious Diseases to join our team!

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Department

Infectious Disease Physicians

Denver Health, in collaboration with the University of Colorado, School of Medicine, is seeking a clinically skilled and experienced leader, educator, manager, and communicator for the position of Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases (ID) for the Department of Medicine at Denver Health Medical Center. The Chief will have oversight of all care delivered by the ID Division at Denver Health and will provide overall leadership within the Division.  The Chief will be responsible for strategic planning, clinical services, academic and business performance for the Division.  They will also oversee trainees rotating on the ID service at Denver Health.

Position Summary

The ID Chief will be an experienced physician preferably qualified to be appointed to the rank of Associate Professor or Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (CU-SOM).  He/she should have a demonstrated reputation of excellence in clinical care, teaching, collegiality, mentoring and scholarship.
 

The Chief will be an individual who has a passion for providing outstanding care to the underserved, a desire to improve systems and processes to maximize efficiency, the leadership skills to engage staff at all levels and an enduring commitment to training the next generation of physicians. Active engagement in health services research and independent research funding preferred.

Reporting to the Chair of Medicine, the Chief will have oversight of all care delivered in the ID Division at Denver Health in the inpatient setting. The Chief will provide overall strategic leadership of the physicians and APPs, including contracted service providers, and will partner with the Administrative Director.  He/she will have responsibility for strategic planning, clinical services, professional performance, business performance, regulatory compliance, medical education, physician practice and Divisional culture.  Advancing a culture of excellence in the ID services, the Chief will be dedicated to performance expectations that provide the highest quality patient care and consistency in clinical care standards, driven by patient safety requirements and clinical outcomes monitoring. Unique to this position at Denver Health, the ID chief will have a close working relationship with the Public Health Institute at Denver Health which houses the outpatient ID services for Denver Health.

Interested applicants should apply online and may submit CV/Cover Letter to:

Aaron Ortiz, Manager of Provider Recruitment

aaron.ortiz@dhha.org 

Additional Position Details:
 

Reporting Relationships

In addition to reporting to the Chair, the ID Chief will have a matrixed reporting relationship to the ID Chief at the CU-SOM exclusively for academic roles and responsibilities.

ID Chief Direct Reports:

• 5 physicians (including CU-SOM physicians who provide services at DH), 1 APP.

Primary Responsibilities

Clinical Expectations

• Enable and expand access to the high-quality clinical services provided by the Division to populations that are currently underserved.
• Lead and participate in clinical quality initiatives focused on improving the patient experience, patient safety clinical outcomes, enhancing systems to assure timeliness and efficiency and assuring quality while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
• Promote and oversee development of critical pathways, protocols and practice guidelines that promote quality, cost-effective care for the patient population as needed.

• Ensure that appropriate quality improvement standards/metrics are established, maintained and reported for the Division.  

• Ensure the application of best practices, incorporating regulatory requirements at the local, state, and national level; utilize benchmarking and data analysis from applicable sources.
• Provide leadership and disseminate practice standards and accountabilities to non-physician staff, physicians, residents, fellows and medical students.

Academic Expectations

• Mentorship of faculty with personalized professional development plans.
• Oversight of the substance, quality, review and evaluation of graduate medical education in the Division. Function as site fellowship director if necessary.
• Oversight of the quality of medical student education in the Division.
• Responsibility for the substance, quality, review and evaluation of all research programs within the Division.
• Oversight of the faculty in accordance with the expectations of the University of Colorado, School of Medicine.
• Promote scholarly activities by faculty and trainees.
• Actively engaged and highly respected educator.
• Promote and support relevant education for all personnel within the Division. 
• Develop and oversee continuing medical education programs for staff at all levels within the Division.
• Maintain and develop professional knowledge and personal competence through participation in professional organizations and conferences.
   

Administrative Expectations

• Oversee the administrative, professional, clinical, financial and educational activities of the Division.  Active support is provided by the Administrative Director and an administrative assistant.

  Oversight of the inpatient ID consult service also requires close interaction with the Public Health Institute at Denver Health and coordination with the 6 ID physicians within Public Health who also rotate on the consult service

• Ensure a culture of open dialogue with all staff, promote healthy team norms, and develop pathways to support staff and promote wellness.
• Ensure a culture of diversity and inclusion within the Division
• Responsible for identifying and addressing areas of inequity in diversity and inclusion by promoting activities that build awareness and acceptance of all individuals.
• Provide leadership for the development of standards and policies related to the Division.
• Supervise all staff in clinical and assigned administrative duties.
• Support and maintain faculty development, recruitment and succession plans.  Coordinate financial impact analysis of plans with administration.
• Encourage participation in research and conference attendance to enhance the reputation of the department.

• Responsible for ensuring the ethical practice of Infectious Diseases within the Department.

• Promote implementation and enforcement of process standardization initiatives.
• Ensure faculty meet performance expectations of their services assignment and customer service standards.
• Assume joint responsibility with Denver Health Administration for compliance with requirements and standards of regulatory agencies and accreditation organizations, including preparation for and participation in relevant surveys.

• Partners with the Administrative Director in all aspects of Divisional management and planning.
• Ensure that Divisional quality and performance improvement activities are working well and dealt with in the context of Divisional meetings.
• Establish and maintain high standards of professional practice.  Oversee and drive superior patient safety and peer review program.
• Ensure the department’s compliance with the Medical Staff Bylaws and hospital policies.
• Create, implement and maintain defined objectives for ID services for clinical improvement, growth, and the expansion of services as needed.
• Provide leadership while building a cooperative, collaborative and cohesive department.
• Collaborate with key external entities

Communication/Change Management Expectations

• Establish appropriate communication channels with physicians, NPs/PAs, nurses and administration that result in trust, alignment and collaborative working relationships, making patient access to resources a high priority.
• Lead by example: establish open, non-judgmental dialogue, expect a culture of diversity and inclusiveness, welcome constructive criticism from direct reports, admit errors openly, avoid a punitive response to honest mistakes, demonstrate timely responsiveness, and hold others accountable.
• Coach, mentor, and develop others to build internal capabilities and the talent that facilitates succession. 
• Foster open communication, teamwork and champion change.  Effectively manage disagreements and look for opportunities for common ground solutions to disagreements.
• Continually communicate and drive high priority strategic initiatives to keep leadership focused.  Communicate effectively and regularly to Denver Health leadership and to departmental faculty and staff regarding the overall health and performance of the Division.
• Ensure that information relevant to patient care and treatment options are communicated to patients, families and